Electricity rates in the Caribbean

[baitballer]

I live in Turks and Caicos islands and I have just received my monthly bill for the shop I run. For 30 days my bill is $1298.87 whicch is approximatly 0.56 cent per unit. (They do not tell we what an actual unit is though!) This does include the fuel surcharge which is actually more than the bill. i.e my electricity cost $632.34 and my fuel surcharge was $666.53

All this does is power my air conditioning, two computers and some lights! I have to laugh when people tell me how expensive the cost of electricity is going up in the UK or USA, compared to here it is a bargain!

 

[Curacao Sunshine]

Hi Liz,
I've just read this thread and looked up our August bill. We pay "Konsumo Normal" rates, meaning the more you use, the more Aquaelectric charges per unit. Our electricity is NAF .68 or 39 US cents this month per KWH. In US dollars our combined water/electric bill will run between $350 and $600 USD a month depending on how low our guests set the AC and how long they shower. Many rentals on the island will allow guests a normal utility charge and bill them over that amount.

 

[dvrliz1]

Hi Liz,
I've just read this thread and looked up our August bill. We pay "Konsumo Normal" rates, meaning the more you use, the more Aquaelectric charges per unit. Our electricity is NAF .68 or 39 US cents this month per KWH. In US dollars our combined water/electric bill will run between $350 and $600 USD a month depending on how low our guests set the AC and how long they shower. Many rentals on the island will allow guests a normal utility charge and bill them over that amount.

Sunshine,

When we did our research we did check out Curacao, of course, and know how they charge. It seems like they are giving you an incentive to conserve!!! The surcharge is killing us here. At our property we still refuse to put "timers" on the airco. We were told it was going down next month (the surcharge), but the surcharge is well over 100% of our basic charge. The energy surcharges that are being charged by some resorts on the island are as high as $15.00 a night, yikes!!!! June is normally our lowest month. We had the same occupancy rate for June 2007 and 2008. RU ready for this? My bill was 3,200 NAF (just about $1,800) in 2008 and this June bill was just over 7,000 NAF ($3,932)

I expect that you will see 2009 rates jump all over the caribbean, though dollar for dollar, the Antilles is probably the "best buy" in the Caribbean for Americans. I mean, where else can you get an exchange rate of 1.78 guilders for your 1 american dollar?

A small resorts in Aruba that are NOT on the sea are getting well over $100.00 a night for a studio.....Our little islands are still a great value....

 

[Drew Sailbum]

In Grand Cayman there are different base rates for residential and commercial customers. In addition to the base rate, there is a fuel surcharge which can easily end up costing more than the base rate.

The government recently renegotiated the contract with CUC, the local electric utility, resulting in substantial decreases in the base rate. But at the same time the fuel surcharges were rising substantially and bills are higher than ever.

As a part of the renegotiation, CUC is obligated to work out the details for permitting grid tie ins for alternate means of generation with some credit to the customer for excess power fed to the grid. Previously grid tie in of solar panels was not permitted.

Current base rate is 12.688 (US$ cents per KWH)

Fuel factor was (in US$)
September 2007 14.375 cents per KWH
December 2007 15.549
May 2008 26.205

I don't have more recent bills around, but it hasn't gotten any better.

 

[Gaviota]

You don't need to live on a island for $$ more expensive electric. We are paying about .28 us per killowatt in Cancun Mexico. Compare that to .063 per killowatt in the states.

We also run a small resort hotel (8 room) on the Costa Maya, Mexico. There are current no electric or water service in the area. All power is site-generated both wind and solar. I did find it very interesting some of the cost on the islands, it really made me recalculate a better return on the investment.

Yes, the alternate energy is expensive, but for us it was a matter of business. We are hoping to have some grid power within the next few years. At that time we will run as much from solar and wind as possible.

Most of our guest do not even know we are off-grid. Each room has a tv, dvd, refridgerator and ceiling fans (no A/C). The big disadvantage is the cost, we invested sbout $60,000 usd - solar panel - controller - inverters - batteries - wind turbine - and when all else fails (no wind and clouds - very rare) a diesel generator. BTW - diesel and gasoline in Mexico are still less expensive than the states.

 

[Charlie99]

The Big Island of HI – it is an island after all and depends on shipped in fuel. A year ago I paid 0.34 per kwh.
0.42 three weeks ago.
0.41 for June, 0.39 in May.

Maui is roughly the same cost. $0.44/kwh in July.

We have some wind power but most is from an oil-powered power plant. Unfortunately, the wind power operator is having a hard time getting approval from the public utilities commission to add more wind power capacity -- apparently the short term variability is causing problems as wind power gets up into the 10 or 20% of power load at any given time.

 

[ben@scorpiodivers.com]

i read in the paper only a couple days ago CFE

 

[ben@scorpiodivers.com]

electric is up 11% in cancun/quintana roo

 

[mike_s]

I'm surprised in Hawaii that with it's remote location they are still what seems close to 100% fossil fuel powered. That's a long way to tanker in gas and coal.

Have they not looked at nuclear power since it's a US state? or is it just not cost effective to build a nuclear plant for fewer people that are distributed on islands that would be hard to run power to?

or is there a movement in Hawaii against nuclear power?


as for gas in hawaii? I assume that most of it is imported?

 

[Charlie99]

I'm surprised in Hawaii that with it's remote location they are still what seems close to 100% fossil fuel powered. That's a long way to tanker in gas and coal.

Have they not looked at nuclear power since it's a US state? or is it just not cost effective to build a nuclear plant for fewer people that are distributed on islands that would be hard to run power to?
as for gas in hawaii? I assume that most of it is imported?

This is an area where different people analyze the envirionmental aspects differently. The environmentalists of Hawaii don't mind importing oil (primarily) and coal (to lesser extent) to run the electric power plants as much as they DO object to building a nuclear power plant. Per the Hawaii State Constitution:

NUCLEAR ENERGY

Section 8. No nuclear fission power plant shall be constructed or radioactive material disposed of in the State without the prior approval by a two-thirds vote in each house of the legislature. [Add Const Con 1978 and election Nov 7, 1978]

The legislature, overwhelmingly dominated by Democrats, is very unlikely to approve any power plant by even a simple majority, much less the 2/3rd of both houses required by the 1978 constitutional amendment.

The power needs of Oahu are compatible with nuclear power plant size. Nuclear power is less attractive for Maui, Big Island, and Kauai.